How long does it take for affiliate marketing to be effective?

Question: The alliance platform is online, and you don’t need to do anything. Just let it go and place orders naturally. Why does it take 6-12 months to be effective, but not 1-2 months?

 In fact, the operation of the alliance platform is only one part of affiliate marketing, and we often regard it as the only one. Many of the things we usually do in alliance operations are difficult to quantify through sales.

Everyone has long been accustomed to the advertising model. It is very difficult to achieve results quickly. Everything must follow certain rules and proceed step by step. Otherwise, it is common to get twice the result with half the effort.

Superficial thoughts:

Sometimes I wonder if advertising with an ROI of only 2-3 is really profitable? Alliance ROI is generally 10-20

Does it really make sense to sacrifice profits in such a long-term way?

Once advertising is paused and no budget is invested, will there still be a steady influx of traffic and sales?

In the industry, the measurement standards for the effectiveness of affiliate marketing have not been unified. In Sister S’s view, the effect is not simply increased from 5% of sales to 10% or more. If the independent website declines as a whole, the alliance channel has doubled. Abnormally, what we hope to see is that all channels are competing for growth and the whole is moving forward steadily. If the growth rate of the alliance exceeds the overall growth rate, it will be very effective.

1. Whether the brand has historical accumulation
For a brand-new brand, everything starts from scratch, so affiliate marketing needs to be accumulated on a year-by-year basis. Affiliate marketing is in the stage of growth simultaneously with brand building, and requires continuous manpower and reasonable budget investment, otherwise the brand will suddenly appear. , who would place an order in a daze?

If the brand has been accumulated for 3-5 years and has its own traffic, affiliate marketing should have developed simultaneously. However, there may not be professionals to sort out and plan. Most of them are in a state of barbaric growth. If you can dig it out at this time, If we find an alliance expert, the company can optimize and adjust all alliance platforms in a unified way, set up a contact group, and build a complete alliance system. If the internal departments cooperate well, initial results can be achieved in 6-12 months, and the growth rate of the alliance may be greater than the overall growth rate in the same period.

After the third-party alliance has been sorted out and the alliance system has been established, it is time to launch the self-operated alliance.

2. Whether the DTC independent station has certain accumulation
We are all complaining that Amazon is becoming more and more difficult to do, with various restrictions and clear names arranged by the platform. When we see others are selling orders again, whether they make money or not, we start to make a comeback, hoping to make money faster. It seems This is true every year, because the threshold for starting a business is getting lower and lower, so it is difficult to secure long-term financial resources.

After all, Amazon is just a platform for selling goods. It stands on the shoulders of giants and brings its own traffic. Of course, other people's territory must be governed by other people's rules. Only by building a good brand can we get rid of the predicament of being dominated by ourselves. Only independent websites can truly let the brand take charge. Independent websites are the best carrier for us to invest in brand precipitation. It is imperative to have dedicated personnel and dedicated posts, and start-up sites need to be Experts in various fields with certain experience are preferred.

3. Is the customer base broad?

DTC brand independent stations are designed to solve the needs and pain points of specific segmented customer groups and provide them with a better shopping experience and supporting services. However, the customer groups for some products are extremely professional, and the gap with leading brands is relatively large, and their expectations are very high. .

If the customer base is narrow and the repurchase rate is low, then we need to make internal adjustments to see if each iteration of the product is sufficiently differentiated. Otherwise, how can customers willingly switch to new models?

4. Is affiliate marketing taken seriously?
Affiliate marketing is equipped with dedicated personnel, who only focus on the basic operations of affiliate marketing. Even with the blessing of the alliance manager, after all, he is just a person with enough rank to do the work. However, when cooperating with external operations, everyone only recognizes the department leader. , where the boss's focus is, what projects can be prioritized and scheduled. Everyone depends on the wind direction, handles it, and follows up quickly, such as the design and IT departments. If it does not receive the attention of department leaders, it will be difficult for affiliate marketing to rise rapidly.

If you pay attention to affiliate marketing, you will not place too many restrictions on the work of alliance operations, and will provide a better internal and external development environment as much as possible. Of course, support from operating colleagues for affiliate marketing is indispensable, especially the accounting and production of discounts.

The influencer marketing team focuses on top influencer resources and mainly focuses on paid cooperation. Alliance operations can develop influencer resources that have not yet been developed by the influencer team. KOC is not limited. Alliance operation can be based on a single paid article. Flexible cooperation in other ways.

5. Is it the best time to start affiliate marketing?
Many friends have said that we should rush forward in the fourth quarter of this year. Should we start SEO optimization when building a website in the second quarter, and launch an alliance platform in the third quarter? It sounds really scary. Everyone thinks that building an independent website is like using tools to build a website. So simple, no difficulty at all.

When it comes to building a website, for a new brand, new site, and a few products, Shopify will be fine. It is also quick to launch the alliance platform at this time, and the installation of the alliance plug-in is quickly completed. At the same time, other off-site promotion channels are deployed. If the product is strong, there is hope that initial results will be achieved in 6 months.

For top brands, if there are sufficient manpower and material resources, and the brand plans to continue investing in independent websites, it is feasible to build a self-built independent website, but the brand website and shopping website do not need to be separated, otherwise it will only increase various expenses, disperse traffic, and reduce the overall conversion rate and ROI. It’s just that it usually takes 1-3 months for a self-built independent station to connect to the alliance platform. In practice, it is normal for the alliance platform to be online within 3 months. If the alliance starts in the fourth quarter, it will wait until the alliance platform technology is connected to complete the order.